Lets admit it; a lot of people have no clue where the cue ball is going to end up after they strike their object ball. What follows will be a technique for how to properly shoot at a 90 degree angle. Take a look at the video below for specifications on each shooting situation I mention.

First, you need to know where your point of contact is. The point of contact is where you’d have to hit the cue ball on the object ball to make it in the pocket. Once you know where your point of contact is, you can begin to work out this 90 degree technique.

Take note of that point of contact. Now you want to line your cue up along that point of contact leading into the pocket. Take your cue and move it 90 degrees (to the left, in this case). Put a piece of chalk right there to provide a visual marker for yourself. When you’re just hitting center ball, the ball will bounce off the rail at 90 degree angles.

Once you have that technique down, let’s try using some English. In this situation, I’ll do the same as before and set a piece of chalk as a marker. But I don’t want to hit that chalk. I want to hit further up on the rail, so I’ll have to put low English on it. The ball will travel at 90 degrees for a moment and then pull away. The same principles apply with high English.